Endnote X8: are there ways to programme add-on functionality e.g. using VBA or Javascipt?

Question

I am using Endnote X8 to manage the footnotes and bibliography of research papers I am writing in Word 2010 on a Win7 machine.

I want to enhance Endnote by some specific functions (e.g. when inserting a footnote, automatically ask for a page number to be mentioned - a function that each times costs me three unnecessary mouse clicks). I am used to write scripts to improve programmes I use, usually in VBA, Javascript, sometimes Python.

Is there a way to do this for Endnote X8? Does Endnote provide access to its programme objects or so? Where can I find documentation?

Answer 1

I eventually found information in the Endnote help library that can be reckoned an answer.

In short: yes, there are tools provided to programme things around Endnote.

Details

In Endnote help, under "APIs and Plug-ins" we read:

"The “RSServices API” is technology from Thomson Reuters that provides a way to build on the power of EndNote. It exposes programmatic access to the core functionality of the EndNote application, allowing third parties to access database content and integrate EndNote with other tools. With the RSServices API users can create “plug-ins” that work within the EndNote interface to add customized functionality to EndNote and extend connectivity with other programs. Most of the RSServices API functions work with EndNote versions X-. [...] The RSServices API is intended for technical audiences who have knowledge of object-oriented programming languages, particularly C and C++. Users should also be familiar with the tools needed to produce compiled application code or DLLs. The API is available for both the Macintosh and Windows operating systems and behaves identically on each, unless otherwise specified."

Under the headline "The RSServices Development Kit (RDK)" we further find: "Supporting documentation and code samples are provided as part of the RSServices Development Kit (RDK), the RDK is available by request directly from the Thomson Reuters EndNote team. The RDK is designed to work with several compilers and tools, including Apple's XCode and Microsoft's Visual Studio. In all cases, APIs are published in the C/C++ programming language, as are all samples and example code."

And the final recommendation: "Contact the Thomson Reuters EndNote team at http://endnote.com//support/contact-support for more information."

Conclusion

For my purposes, this is too complicated. I would have needed a scripting environment included in Endnote itself (like there is one in Adobe Acrobat Pro, Adobe Indesign, and of course the MS Office Suite) to enable me to simply run simple scripts (in what language ever).